November 26, 2025
PUBLIC BRIEFING: CALLS TO FREE BETTY DURING 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM 2025 November 25 – December 10, 2025  Help Free Ibtissame Betty Lachgar As we enter the global 16 Days of Activism against sex-based violence, the Free Betty Coalition is calling on the public to help secure the release of Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, a Moroccan feminist and human rights defender imprisoned for a peaceful act of expression. The coalition represents hundreds of organisations representing hundreds of thousands of people. Betty was arrested on 10 August 2025 in Morocco for posting a photograph, taken in London, in which she wore a...
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November 17, 2025
PRESS STATEMENT: Hundreds of Organisations Join the Free Betty Coalition to Mark Ibtissame Betty Lachgar’s 100 Days of Imprisonment in Morocco Goal: 100,000 signatures to Free Betty For Immediate Release 18 November 2025 Today marks 100 days since Moroccan feminist and human rights defender Ibtissame Betty Lachgar was imprisoned in Rabat, Morocco for posting a photograph of herself wearing an “Allah is Lesbian” T-shirt. Her sentence of 30 months stems solely from an act of peaceful expression defending women’s and LGBT rights made outside Morocco. To mark the 100 days of imprisonment, hundreds of organisations, representing hundreds of thousands of...
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November 8, 2025
PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Date: 8 November 2025 Ex-Muslims International, including Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, expresses deep concern following credible reports that Sherif Gaber was arrested on 4 November 2025. Sherif Gaber is a well-known Egyptian atheist, political activist, blogger, and YouTuber who advocates for free thought, secularism, and scientific reasoning in Egypt and the wider Arab world. According to information obtained his current whereabouts remain unknown and no official authority has confirmed the reason for his detention or where he is being held. The reports of Gaber’s detention come amid what appears to be a wider government...
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September 30, 2025
Sign the Petition | Get a T-Shirt | Download the Press Dossier in English | Visit Ex-Muslims International Free Betty Page Open letter by Siham Lachgar on her sister’s dire situation Maryam Namazie’s piece in The Freethinker – Freedom of expression lives where offence begins: In defence of Ibtissame Betty Lachgar Ex-Muslims International (Ex-MI), of which Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) is a founding member, launched a global campaign ahead of Apostasy Day (August 22) to #FreeBetty for Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, a feminist, atheist, psychologist, and long-time human rights activist who has been arrested for “blasphemy” by Moroccan authorities. She has been sentenced...
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September 26, 2025
My sister Ibtissame Betty Lachgar has been detained for 45 days in cruel and degrading conditions that amount to psychological torture and violate her integrity. She is still being held in solitary confinement. This is inhumane! No human being should be treated this way. My sister Ibtissame Betty Lachgar is a survivor of Ewing’s sarcoma, a bone cancer diagnosed when she was 20 years old. She has been living with a disability ever since and wears a prosthesis on her left arm. In France, she has ALD status, which is a long-term illness. The latest medical reports warn of major...
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September 22, 2025
On Blasphemy Day, we need your voice more than ever. Join Ex-Muslims International in demanding the decriminalisation of blasphemy laws and the immediate release of Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, a renowned rights activist unjustly imprisoned in Morocco. Betty has been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars—for nothing more than posting a photo of herself in London wearing a t-shirt that read “Allah is Lesbian.” She is a cancer survivor, urgently in need of medical care. Every day she remains imprisoned is a risk to her health, her life, and her freedom. Our Spokesperson Maryam Namazie highlights Betty’s case here. Also,...
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September 3, 2025
By Maryam Namazie Published 3 September in The Freethinker. IN FRENCH: La liberté d’expression prend vie là où le délit commence : pour la défense d’Ibtissame Betty Lachgar Freedom of expression lives where offence begins. To offend is to question certainty, to strip the sacred of its privilege, and to laugh in the face of fear and threats. A society that bans offence bans thought itself. Morocco is the latest case in point. Since 10 August, feminist and human rights activist Ibtissame Betty Lachgar has been in prison because of an ‘Allah is Lesbian’ t-shirt she has worn for years....
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August 28, 2025
From Ex-Muslims International On 27 August 2025, protesters gathered outside the Moroccan Embassy in London to demand the immediate release of Moroccan activist Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, arrested and prosecuted for “attacking the Muslim faith” after sharing a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt that read: “Allah is a Lesbian.” The protest was attended by secularists, apostates from Islam and Hinduism, women’s rights activists, and human rights defenders. Those present included Maryam Namazie (Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain), Rahila Gupta (writer and human rights activist), Veiled Rose (Faithless Hijabi), representatives of Ex-Muslims International, the National Secular Society, Leicester Secular Society, and FiLiA women’s rights organisation. Supporters...
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August 26, 2025
Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, a Moroccan secularist, feminist, ex-Muslim and LGBT rights campaigner was arrested on 10 August 2025 in Rabat, Morocco for her photo on social media wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Allah is Lesbian.” ‘Betty has worn the same T-shirt for many years now. The arrest follows a pile-on of threats of rape, death, lynching and stoning orchestrated by the religious-Right. On the day of her trial in Rabat on 27 August, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. Ex-Muslims International and Faithless Hijabi have organised a protest at the Moroccan Embassy in London demanding #FreeBetty. Date: Wednesday 27 August...
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August 25, 2025
Urgent: Free Betty: Jailed for a T-shirt Protest 27 Aug, London Join protest in defence of Moroccan activist Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, who has been imprisoned and faces trial on Wednesday 27 August after sharing a photo wearing a T-shirt that read “Allah is a Lesbian.” Being LGBT is not an insult; criticism of religion is not a crime. Blasphemy laws have no place in any society. Event details Date: Wednesday 27 August 2025 Time: 15:00–16:00 Location: Moroccan Embassy, 49 Queen’s Gate Gardens, London SW7 5NE Organisers: Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), Ex-Muslims International (ExMI), and Faithless Hijabi Why this...
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